What's In Your Library Bag Wednesday? Inspirational Fiction at its Best

Remember last week when I told you all I had to read Insipirational Fiction for my next class? Well, I did some research on the Librarian's iread wiki, http://iread.pbworks.com/, which is always highlighted in my classes. Clicking through the tabs of adult fiction and then Inspirational Fiction, I ran across this definition for Inspirational Fiction.

"Inspirational Fiction is fiction that inspires people to become better in some way, to believe in themselves, to find hope/comfort, or proceed on a sprititual quest. These may include books with some with Christian principles/tenets, but are abooks that generally wouldn't fall under the CBA guidelines for Christian Fiction; those can be found on the Christian Fiction page.)"

And this list of possible titles...
The five people you meet in heaven, by Mitch Albom
Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by Richard Bach
Soulmate, by Deepak Chopra
God on a Harley, by Joan Brady
Keeping faith, by Jodi Picoult
Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
Gates of Zion, by Bodie Thoene

Books by:
Beverly Lewis
Deanne Gist
Francine Rivers
Tracie Peterson
Karen Kingsbury
Jan Karon
I think Richard Paul Evans should be added here, too!

And I realized that I have already read a lot of Inspirational Fiction. And that I like it.

Mitch Albom is a definite jewel. The first book that I actually read of his was, Have a little Faith, a non-fiction book about being asked to write a eulogy for his rabbi. After having finished this title, I quickly moved on to reading ALL of his other works. Two titles which could be classified as Inspirational Fiction, are The Five People You Meet in Heaven (now a major motion picture for those of you who don't always take time to read) and For One More Day being as those are actually Fiction. But, I feel that all of his works are definitely inspirational in nature.

In the story of The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Eddie, the main character starts the novel by dying. But, he does not become immediately rewarded with heaven. The novel progresses as we relive moments in Eddie's life where five different people touched him in profound ways. Eddie didn't realize some of them at the time, because the meetings seemed so insignificant, yet they altered the course of his life. Each person has a question to answer about Eddie's life and why he lived and what he lived for. How perhaps, he impacted their lives, which impacted other lives, which impacted yet other lives. This novel in its simplicity, inspires us to take note of the small moments in life and to realize that we are all a part of a  much larger whole; that all of our stories entwine. What we do and say may not seem all that important, but it may matter to someone and in turn, alter the course of their lives.

Inspirational books are books that really make you think about life and to see the more of the good in people and all the things we do. They are definitley feel good stories that hold an important message. Who says fiction isn't important?